Tuesday, May 2, defined the 2023 production year, stopping Hollywood’s schedule in its tracks. The Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) took a stand against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and went on strike, arguing for a comprehensive contract with fairer residual policies and protections against the growing artificial intelligence industry. Months later, the writers were joined by one of their counterparts, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), on July 14. While the beginning of the writer’s strike threw a wrench in “For Your Consideration” season, SAG-AFTRA’s abruptly cut summer blockbuster promotion short, halting virtually every industry tangential to filmmaking. Both of the strikes lasted well until the fall, with the WGA strike ending on September 27 and the SAG-AFTRA strike closing on November 9.
A Look to the Past
The fight between Hollywood executives and creatives has persisted since the creation of the Screen Actors Guild and the Screen Writers Guild in 1933. While both guilds underwent various changes—becoming what we now know as the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Writers Guild of America—each organization has undergone several strikes since. But, the last time two branches of Hollywood talent jointly went against the studios was in 1960, when the writers fought for pensions and television residuals and the actors fought for compensation from licensing deals. Most recently, the WGA went on strike from November 2007 to February 2008, echoing previous strikes’ concerns and seeking increased residual rates for DVD sales and streaming.
And in the aftermath of record inflation, COVID-19 and looming technological changes, it’s no wonder that the summer of 2023 saw two of these unions back on the picket lines for the first time in six decades.
The Demands
The 2023 joint strike came after a routine deliberation period between the AMPTP, WGA…
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